


good bones

by pearwaldorf



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Future Fic, Gen, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-08-03 20:43:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16333124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pearwaldorf/pseuds/pearwaldorf
Summary: This story starts a long time ago, before you were even born.(Spoilers through episode 27 of Campaign 2)





	good bones

This story starts a long time ago, before you were even born. 

What’s that, my treasure? Your Papa was born, yes, but he was young at the time. Younger than you are now. 

As I was saying. There were bad people in the woods, evil people who stole the unsuspecting to sell. People who could pay for lives like grain or cloth, I suppose. I don’t know why they would do such a thing. It is a question I have asked myself many times over the years. No, I do not have an answer. They killed many of our clan, during a celebration of Duma’s coming of age. 

They took your Grandda and Papa. I don’t know why they were picked, what stood out about them that they were not killed. I was out hunting at the time, and I came back to the village to find it in disarray. Jumnda told me what happened. 

Yes, Umbo was there too. He was hurt very badly by these evil people, but Jumnda nursed him back to health. That is why he has headaches sometimes, and why I make him medicine and the special tea. 

When I found out your Grandda and Papa were taken, I was very angry, angrier than I have ever been in my life. Yes, even angrier than when I found you pulling things out of my smell bag. I can replace things in the bag. I cannot replace your Grandda or Papa. 

I vowed to go after these bad people, and get Grandda and Papa back. All by myself, yes. I had no one else to turn to for help at this time. 

I tracked the bad people to the outside of the Thicket. They battled with another group, which was outmatched. Yes, this was the Mighty Nein. There were four of them. I don’t know why either. 

I saw one of them fall, and they buried him. They put a marker at the head of the grave and hung a beautiful coat on it, bright and riotous with color and patterns. I learned so much about their companion from that coat, and it grieved me that a spirit with such joy and delight was no longer with us.

No, I never met him. I barely saw him. Jumnda and Umbo did, though. Maybe you can ask him about it. 

They were sad, yes. I told them the same thing I told you when Jumnda passed: the dead never really leave us. They are present in the leaves, the wind, the earth. I do not know if they believed me. You did not believe me at first when I told you, remember?

At this time I became a horse and crept up on them. I thought we could help each other fight the bad people, but I wanted to be absolutely sure. They had friends who had been taken as well, and so we resolved to work together to get Grandda and Papa and their people back.

Yes, this is where I met Keg. 

Together we went to the place where the bad people had taken all the prisoners. Caleb had a familiar that could change shapes. Yes, like I can, but he could take many more forms than I could. I became a mouse, and the familiar became an owl and dropped me into the keep. It was… interesting. 

As a mouse, I explored the keep. Of course I was scared. But I wanted to find your Grandda and Papa, more than anything. I do not know if that made me brave, but I suppose Grandda and I can disagree about that. 

Together we felt like almost enough, but we wanted to see if we could get some additional help. And so we went into the Savalierwood, and found The Blooming Grove. It was much more dangerous then, and smaller. There was only the little temple, and the graveyard. 

This is where we met Caduceus, yes. 

He wanted to leave the temple and see the rest of the world for a bit, and so I promised our clan would take care of the Grove in his place. I’d like to think we’ve done so well, and left it better than we found it. 

With Caduceus, we went back to the keep. We fought our way in, and we found Grandda and Papa. I was so happy to see them, and that they were safe. I did cry. 

I was ready to continue deeper into the keep to find the Nein’s friends, but Beauregard told me to take your Grandda and Papa and leave. So we did. 

We walked out of the keep, into the Savalierwood, and didn’t stop until we came to the Grove. Caduceus’s things were still there, and we laid your Papa down on the bed. Your Grandda and I looked at him, and we started to cry. Why? For so many reasons: happiness, relief, anger, grief. And then we laid down on the bed too, cradling him between us until we all fell asleep.

We walked back to Jumnda’s hut, and there was Keg, sitting by the fire. Oh, what a joy it was to see her! She told us what happened at the keep after we left, and that everybody was safe. I felt a large weight lift from my heart, I was so glad. 

At this point she shuffled her feet and looked at the ground. “So I was thinking, you probably need help rebuilding and stuff. Could I stick around for a little bit?” 

I gave her a hug and told her she was welcome to stay as long as she wanted. And so she did, through four turns of the seasons. She helped mend the damage from the attack on the village, and minded the little ones when their mothers were busy. When Fana had her baby, she asked Keg to name him. She didn’t pause at all when she offered up a suggestion. That’s right, that’s how Yuto got his name.

When she was ready to leave, Keg asked me to come with her to the outside of the Thicket. I had not been back there since I met the Mighty Nein. It looked much the same, except for one thing. The mound of dirt had been replaced with a bright riot of flowers and mushrooms, as colorful as the coat that still hung on the wooden marker. It had started to weather, but the name carved into it was still visible: Mollymauk Tealeaf.

I picked some flowers to bring back with me. They were unusual, the way they perfumed the air with heady fragrance for days, and then died overnight. I tried to plant the seeds, but they would not grow anywhere except Mollymauk’s grave. After each winter, I go and gather the flowers, to celebrate another turn of the seasons and surviving the cold and dark. Yes, you may go with me next time, now that you’re strong enough to help carry them back.

I also gathered some of the mushrooms. Unlike most bright mushrooms, these are not poisonous, and are in fact quite useful as medicine. I did not realize this until Fana and Yuto became extremely ill, and none of the remedies I knew had any effect. I asked Caduceus to come take a look, and he made a brew of them. They are potent but difficult to grow, and so I reserve them for only the most serious of maladies. Yes, this is what I use to make Umbo’s special tea.

Before Caduceus left, I found him sitting on the step of the temple. It was a sunny day, and the light dappled through gaps in the leaves. Lush green stretched past the rings of fences, reaching further into the Savalierwood until we could no longer see how far it went. 

“I like what you’ve done with the place,” he said. There was an ease to him, something that settled when he saw what his old home had become. 

“We had a strong foundation to build on,” I replied. 

He nodded. “That does help, of course. But you still have to put in the work, and the love. And the occasional bit of magic.” He touched his staff to some of the vines growing around the door, and they bloomed, framing the entry with red flowers so bright they almost hurt to look at. 

Caduceus turned around to admire his handiwork. “This place isn’t mine anymore. But I’d like to think it still retains a little of my personality.” 

I gave him a hug. “You and the rest of the Nein are always welcome here.” 

He smiled and put on his hat before starting down the path out of the wood. 

That’s all the story I have to tell you tonight, my treasure. It’s late, and little firbolgs need their sleep. Yes, even if they’re not tired. 

All right, one more question. 

I suppose it is ours, or at least the clan’s, now. We have cleansed it, tilled it, put people and things we love in it to be given back to the earth. I cannot think of anything more we could do. 

Have a good sleep. I love you too.


End file.
